Knowledge, Emotions, and Well-Being: A Vision into Psychic Conflicts from the Khoshias of Western Himalaya

This essay on knowledge, emotions, and well-being first of all explores the narratives on boir, a primitive warfare among the Khoshias of the western Himalaya. These are tales of struggle for survival between the villages. From this arises a new vision into psychic conflicts—an enquiry of ambivalence of emotions, love and hate toward the lost object. For, in these transitions of emotions, everything that is in flesh and blood seeps into the psyche of the griever. Unaware of it, the person goes into a state of gloom. In some rare ones, who bear the pain, it burns as a fire of separation, the fire of biraha, and fuels creative works. It is a journey of the self into amar and sabar, the inner and outer world. However, for most of us, there are two ways to come out of the state of gloom. When aware of this state, effort must be to control consciousness and reinstate order through mourning. For others, the simplest way is to practice mindfulness.